15 Famous Names Who Turned Down British Honours

The queen herself, Helen Mirren, accepted the honour of damehood back in 2003, but not before rejecting the honour of MBE when offered by the John Major-led Tory government of the mid-nineties. Yet by all accounts she had reservations over accepting, admitting "the whole concept of aristocracy I loathe. I gave myself a week to think about whether or not to accept the honour. I talked to people in my industry and they were unanimous, they said you’ve got to do it. It was surprising to me, slightly, because I thought of myself as the naughty one.”